The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis

Alexandros Papadiamantis was the son of a priest, born in 1851 on the Greek island of Skiathos. He entered higher education at the University of Athens, but subsequently dropped out for financial reasons. Working as a writer for his entire life, he lived among the poor of Athens and in later life moved back to his native Skiathos. He wrote mainly journalistic pieces and short stories, though he completed at least three novels, which were serialised. 

Even when Papadiamantis's reputation began to gain traction, he refused to unduly profit from it. On many occasions he argued down the the full fee offered, accepting only what he thought he needed to live off.

The Murderess is probably Papadiamantis's best known work, sold as a novella, but really a short story. It follows a woman in rural Skiathos who comes to the conclusion that a woman's life is not only not worth living, but is a blight on her parents. At this time, not only was a hefty dowry expected from the parents of a marrying woman, but it was considered shameful for an unmarried woman to work. As such, the debts incurred by having a daughter often plagued parents for the rest of their lives.

The protagonist is known as Fragkoyannoú, the widow of Yannis Fragkos, her whole identity is bound to that of her good-for-nothing (and long since dead) husband. Ground down by patriarchal system, she starts murdering young girls, 'saving' both them and their parents. Whilst her actions are not glorified, or even presented as the acts of a rational woman, nor are they condemned as such. There is no rationality in such a situation.

Papadiamantis reminds me a little of Thomas Hardy, in that he is writing of a time and place which was already passing away. He does not see the situation of the rural poor through rose-tinted glasses, but I think there is a nobility about the characters, a resignation to the poor lot they have been assigned. Even the actions of the murderess are not fighting the system, they are just removing the young girls from that system, from a life that will never be happy.

The Murderess is (unsurprisingly, considering its topic) a little dry. It is also pretty brief, and though it is powerful, it failed to completely grip me in the way a work with more depth would have. Overall, I think ★★★★☆.